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24 Hidden Dress Codes Folks Use To Send Signals About Themselves Shared In This Online Group
"Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak," American fashion designer Rachel Zoe once wrote. The way this idea could be interpreted is that clothes and other kinds of fashion pieces we choose to wear send abstract and pretty obscure signals to people around us about who we are as people: our occupation, mood, personality, colors we like, and so on.
Though apparently, some fashion pieces speak exceptionally loudly and the signals they send are far from abstract or obscure. Recently, a redditor asked fellow users to share some hidden dress codes people wear to identify themselves that one has to already know about to notice. And of course, Reddit delivered. Without further ado, Bored Panda invites you to find out about some of the most intriguing secret dress codes people use to send signals about themselves.
Discover more in 30 Hidden Dress Codes Folks Use To Send Signals About Themselves Shared In This Online Group
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#2
So this is probably a very spesific Norwegian thing, but the colour of your hat is signalling your availability when hiking in the mountains. Red hat means taken, green means available (and orange means that you're open for a chat). This is important knowledge if you're trying to pull a Norwegian, because hiking is the only (non alcoholic) activity where a Norwegian will ever talk to a stranger. Ever.
#6
If you see someone with a tattooed on wedding ring it's usually because they work with machine tools or electricity where having something metal and or conductive on their hand while working can lead to very bad things.
#7
Its an old sailors tradition to wear a golden earring. (Dont know if its just the netherlands or worldwide) but some of the mainly fishermen towns here have their own specific type of golden earring. So if you see a dutch guy wearing a big golden earring with a detailed design, you know he comes from a fishermen town. (Golden earring tradition was historically done incase a fishermen would fall overboard, the golden earring could cover the costs of a proper burial)
#9
Sunflower lanyards means the wearer has a hidden disability. Some places like Heathrow train staff to recognise them and offer assistance.
#10
Small stainless steel or iron pinky ring on your dominant hand is an engineer, specifically an engineer whose pledged an ethics oath. Not exactly a secret, but not well known either
#11
Red ball caps have become a signal that they are d***** bags. Fred Durst started it, but MAGA solidified it.
#12
I used to wonder why certain people in my office would wear the same colors as each other sometimes. Turns out they were listening to a radio station here in NYC that would suggest a color for you to wear that day.
#13
If you’re actually rich, you’re not flashing brands. The rich rich of California wear subtly expensive workout or hiking clothes as much as humanly possible. Patagonia, north face, Columbia, etc. Logos are gauche. Also, for women’s jewelry, you’ll see a lot of subtle wealth and minimalism- nothing big or clunky or super sparkly. My experience mostly in LA, Santa Barbara and SF!
#14
I'm Jew(ish). I live in Scotland, and there's not many of us around, but I've been to synagogue and lived in Israel, and I can easily spot a married Orthodox Jewish woman out of a crowd, mostly by her wig, but also her dress style to an extent. It's such a natural distinction for me that I didn't realise it wasn't immediately obvious to others until I was driving with my friends by Loch Ness and we saw a big gathering, (mostly behind trees) and someone said something along the lines of "I wonder what's going on there" and I replied "looks like an organised Jewish event" because I saw several mothers and their kids by the road and I instantly recognised them as Orthodox Jews. My friends looked at me as if I had a supernatural Jewdar because there weren't any obvious men in sight wearing heavily recognised religious clothing (think kippahs- headcaps, or payot- hair curls, ect.)
#15
Handkerchief in the back pocket is something the gay leathermen (or women) wear to symbolize they are on the hunt for a "date". Or it was used to symbolize a sexual fetish or -- Right pocket meant you were a top or dominant. Left pocket meant you were a bottom. Yes, I've been to some interesting parties.
#16
If someone is wearing a belt but have the buckle on either side of their hips instead of the middle it means they spend all day leaning over engine bays of hot rods and don’t want their belt buckle scratching the paintwork.
#18
Military uniforms tell you a lot about the person wearing them beyond their name and rank. You can tell what campaigns they've been involved in, what professional military education courses they've completed, their proficiency with weapons, their occupational specialty and their level of proficiency, how many years they've served, and (at least in the USAF), their MAJCOM, wing, and possibly squadron of assignment. Another little secret of the military dress code has to do with hats. A person in uniform wearing a hat indoors indicates that they are armed. The weapon may be concealed or carried openly, but it is a fast way to determine who in a room has weapons.
#19
Head coverings vary among observant Muslim women from different countries. The kind many people think of is the Saudi Arabian style that has become more popular in the last decade or so. A cool one is the different traditional head coverings between Kazakhs (white scarf with a part tied back like a nurses cap), Uighurs (colorful scarf and tied in front or behind the neck), and the Hui (a cap with cloth coming down the sides) — all groups found in China (depending on how you feel about groups leaving to be independent). I think it’s like people from different countries tying knots.
#20
Oftentimes student nurses will wear one color of scrubs to stand out from professionals during clinicals. My color was hazel grey.
#21
Reminds me of when I was in elementary school and we were told not to wear red or black to school because they were associated with certain gangs.
#23
When I was a teenager a lot of the working-class, multi-generation in the area kids from the very rural West Virginian area I moved to wore these, to my teenage eyes, very funny looking polka dot caps with downward pointing brims. At the time I just assumed they got them at this store that still had a lot of 70s deadstock and it was a trend because they were cheap and it was the 90s and we were irony poisoned. It was pretty widespread across a few counties though. They were mostly worn by the kids who already had decided they were not going to college, whether by their own choice, or their own circumstances. They were welders' caps. Welder is an aspirational job in the area, if you plan to stay there after graduation. They were signifying they planned to stay and work in the same field their dads did. It didn't even occur to me what it was all about until some high school reunion.
#24
Silver Crocs = I have multiple bottles of Soda in my fridge Jorts = I'm stone cold steve Austin Bandana + Eyebrows = I ride a motorcycle Bandana + No Eyebrows = I am receiving chemotherapy. T shirt with ripped off sleeves = my kids will jump on your furniture and my reaction will be inappropriate.
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